William Mitchell Law Review
Volume 28 | Issue 1
Article 3
2001
Lena Olive Smith: A Minnesota Civil Rights
Pioneer
Ann Juergens
Mitchell Hamline School of Law, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr
Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, and the Legal History Commons
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Juergens, Ann (2001) "Lena Olive Smith: A Minnesota Civil Rights Pioneer," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 28: Iss. 1, Article 3.
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Juergens: Lena Olive Smith: A Minnesota Civil Rights Pioneer
William Mitchell College of Law
Mitchell Open Access
Faculty Scholarship
2001
Lena Olive Smith: A Minnesota Civil Rights
Pioneer
Ann Juergens
William Mitchell College of Law, [email protected]
Publication Information
28 William Mitchell Law Review 397 (2001)
Repository Citation
Juergens, Ann, "Lena Olive Smith: A Minnesota Civil Rights Pioneer" (2001). Faculty Scholarship. Paper 61.
http://open.wmitchell.edu/facsch/61
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Mitchell Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an
authorized administrator of Mitchell Open Access.
Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2001
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William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 28, Iss. 1 [2001], Art. 3
Lena Olive Smith: A Minnesota Civil Rights Pioneer
Abstract
Lena Olive Smith and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) created a
spirited partnership in the public interest during the 1920s and 1930s. Throughout their long collaboration,
this woman lawyer, her clients, and the Minneapolis branch of a national grassroots organization faced similar
challenges: to stay solvent, to end segregation and increase equality, and to live with dignity. This article is
divided into four sections. The first three roughly correspond with stages in Smith’s life and work. Part II
briefly chronicles Smith’s first thirty six years, 1885 to 1921, as a single African-American woman in the north
searching for meaningful and remunerative work. It sketches the formation of the NAACP and the legal and
social context that framed Smith’s life and the civil rights struggles that followed. Part III covers 1921 to 1926,
from the time Smith became licensed to practice law to the year she developed as a leader in the Minneapolis
NAACP. Part IV focuses on five events during Smith’s leadership of the Minneapolis NAACP. In the
conclusion, the article outlines a few simple lessons for today’s lawyers and those working for social justice.
Keywords
Lena Olive Smith, NAACP, Minnesota lawyers, African-American lawyers, women lawyers, social justice, race
and the law, civil rights
Disciplines
Civil Rights and Discrimination | Human Rights Law | Law and Society | Legal History, Theory and Process |
Social Welfare Law | Women
This article is available at Mitchell Open Access: http://open.wmitchell.edu/facsch/61
http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol28/iss1/3
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